Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1887-11-28

within. For one, believe that an over
ruling Providence led us safely through
our wilderness of troubles and perplexi.
ties Loss of life, loss Of property, was
not our severest affection. Humilia ion,
worse than death, became slmcst habit
Of our minds. Adventures without name,
when they happened not to be infamous,
were our oppressors. In the precincts Of
the Freedmen's Bureau the man who had
been slave became pet, while the beg
CARED master was made 10 feel that he was
an outcsst In those days what
else could we do but become solid? We
never saw the hour, III those frightful days
of trial, when we would not have warmed
10 the man in the North, let him be what
he might, Republican or Democrat, who
expressed for us word Of sympathy or
showed disposition to deal with us fairly.
But il was not deemed worth while to take
Southern whites into account so long as the
ownership of the negro pertained to the
Republican party. Holding him, that
party could do without US, and for two
years or more after the war an unqualified
tyranny ruled the South. We then saw
that our last chance was with our old
slaves, and we set to work to..strengthen
our cause with their aid. But We soon
found that the effort was hopeless. APP
peals that never failed before went for
nothing, the minds of the eolored people
being paralyzsd by the superstitious terrors
Of the oath that bound them to the Loyal
League
"There was nothing left for it but to
watch and wait. The 100000 votes cast
for GREELEY could avail nothing against
Mr.. PHILLIPs's forty acres and mule"
to say nothing of that fearful oath. We
lived to see the day when the pictures of
rEoUP and CRAWFORD looked down in
the halls of the Georgia State Capitol on
thirty negro members in one Of our State
Legislatures, and we thought We saw
determined effort so completely to African
ize our State and the States ofthe South as
to leave for all time to come no doubt of
Republican domination on our soil. 1t
would have been sheer hlnacy on our part
had we helped our enemy, the Republican
party, to do its perfect work by aggrayat-
ingour troubles through foolish and wicked
oppuguanee to the colored man. From
the surrender" to the pre- sent moment
our will and our deeds prove that we have
taken the course in regard to the freedman
that our best interests aad the dictates of
religion and wise policy would suggest
1--WE therefore will not suffer the
charge 50 rOundly and so persistently
made against us, Of defrauding the negro
out OF his vote, to 20 uncbal-
lenged. We deny, as roundy as our enc
mics assert the charge, that the negro is
denied right to vote; indeed, there is no
such interference with the free exercise of
the franchise rs we see practiced by en-
ployers of labor in the North. No man
who valued bis character for truth and
honesty could assert of my State what
Senator WALLACE said of his, from his
place in the United States Senate:
'No such political domination has eve
existed anywhere as now dominates and
controls the Republican organization, ana
through it the power OF that great State.
Sixteen thousand black and white Repub-
ican voters in Pennsylvania are sufficient
to elect Congressman, but it requires
Al, 900 Of their opponents to do So"
''This is my earnest belief" adds the
Senator, land with all sincerity aud SOL
emnity declare it, that the present agita-
ton of the question Of negro suffrage By
the Republican managers means serious
trouble to the country. For ten years of
administration, with every branch OF the
government in their control, the Republi-
can party never moved finger to correct
abuses that they woald have the world
think have become intolerable in the two
years of Mr.. CLEvELAND's administration.
Aud now, when We hear scarcely muir
muir of complaint in the localities which
ought to bs the centers of trouble between
black and white; when the negro has
his newspaper to represent him; when
there are thousands OF negro
teachers in the land, and organ
lied religious denominations, with
their conferences and their presbyteries and
associations, to sound the alarm; in the
face of these clear evidences of improve
ment under Democratic administration,
certain disturbers Of the peace are seeking
TO lash the public mind into a..rsge about
the negro and his wrongs. The people of
this great country are in effect counseled
to turn from the consideration OF the many
weighty problems which confront them,
and never rest till the negro vote is again
and securely in the grasp of the Republican
party" ......... ....-.. ..
II the people Of the South, thinks Mr.
CoLoUITT, have, after all, forfeited the
confidence and respect of their brethren in
the the North, they are in a sad plight and
so is our country. -.